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Show A LEAF FROM MY JOURNAL. 1 have just returned from Davenport Daven-port and Rock Island, having celebrated cele-brated Washington's birthday ill a very creditable manner itt honor of his memory. Thi3 morning I visited Villa dc Chantal at Rock Island, a very popular school for young ladies. Sister Borgia escorted me over the elegant bttilditig which' is conducted by the Sisters of the Visitation. The spacious hulls with their broad stairways stair-ways are ftirrtlshed with mission furniture fur-niture ahd the walls arc adorned with paintings from the masters while the bookcases are ornamented with miniature min-iature busts of the musicians and poets. A classical atmosphere -prevailed over the entire building with the additional charm of tranquility only broken now and then, by the notes of a piano, where some pupil was struggling with her lesson. After partaking of luncheon, I crossed cros-sed the river to Davenport and in the afternoon visited St. Kathcrinc's Hall an Episcopalian school, under the supervision of Sister Margaret. The older girls were playing basket ball in the gymnasium and I enjoyed watching them fittly as mUch ds they enjoyed the game. St. Kathcrinc's is too well known to make any complimentary com-plimentary remarks about its advantages. advan-tages. No prettier place could be selected se-lected for the erection of a boarding school than Davenport and Rock Island. Is-land. The two cities lie in the loving embrace of the Mississippi river. Ice was floating in great blocks to day, and presented a picturj of cold beauty beau-ty with the leafless trees bordering the Arsenal, standing gaunt and ghostlike against the winter sky 1 also passed the old Davenport homestead where Colonel Davenport Daven-port resided and after whom the city of Davenport b named. It is also the home of Miss Alice French, the well known writer whose pen name is Octave Thanct. Last week I visit ed the. Academy of the Immaculate Conception at Davenport, conducted by the Sisters of Mercy. Opposite the building St. Luke's hospital is situated. It is an Episcopalian Institution Insti-tution founded by the late lamented and much revered Bishop William Stevens Pcny. I have met many charming people in Davenport who have called and extended thicr hospitality hos-pitality and a warm welcome to their city. I am perfectly in love with this section of the three little cities, with their schools and libraries. With the latter have become familiar, in my daily visits and have found the librarians librar-ians to be ever ready to graciously receive strangers. In Rock Island I enjoyed a pleasant pleas-ant conversation with Robert Rex-dale, Rex-dale, the popular editor, writer and poet. He presented me with a copy of his latest song, "-In A' Land Of Flowers and Sunshine," which has met with great success upon the stage. While in Chicago I visited the Art Institute almost daily and the studios of friends who arc artists. Miss Ka- therine Hhll Scott has her studio furnished fur-nished with an air of comfort. I noticed with pride, her diploma from this Palace of Art, having graduated in 1901. Miss Scott "is a natural born artist and while her work covers oil, watcreolor, crayon and china painting. her forte lies in portrait drawing and miniature painting. In this she excels. ex-cels. One of her recent paintings ol exceptional merit is that of a gentleman gentle-man of Virginia, being a life size painting in oil of a fine type of an old southern gentleman. Behind the sacred sa-cred portal guarded by the silent lions on either side the entrance, l'.ow many beautiful wofks of sculpture sculp-ture represent the life work of those whose lives were wrapt up in their ideals and love of the beautiful 1 jj$ I received an invitation to attend " the exhibitions, lectures, musicals and receptions, held in the Institute for the season of 1906-7. I love every thought expressed in art in the building, build-ing, but my favorite pieces in sculpture sculp-ture were, " Diana and The Lion " or "Intellect Dominating Brute Force," by Elwcll F. Brown. The figures , represent Diana in her dryad beauty standing with one hand resting upon the head of the lion, who raises his (.'yes to her with an expression of adoration ado-ration and reverence. The lesson is instantly comprehened by the mo3t sluggish at learning. " Nydia," "The Blind Girl of Pompeii," Pom-peii," made famous by Bulwer Lyt-ton Lyt-ton in his famous novel, is the work of Randolph Rogers, an American sculptor, and the gift of Jane E. Bal-com; Bal-com; this appealed to me strongly both from an artistic and sentimental standpoint, as it is impossible for one of sensitive temperament to read the story of this beautiful, yet unfortunate unfort-unate maiden of Pompeii, without awakening the finer emotions of sym-uathy sym-uathy and tenderness. " Faith" is one of four figures from the tomb of General Lamoricicrc in bronze in the cathedral of Nantes and is the work of Paul Dubois, a French sculptor.. The statue of Joan of Arc at Donir remy, by Henri Michel Antoine Chapu, is from a marble in the Luxembourg, Lux-embourg, Paris. I left my little poem " FIcur-dc-Lis" at her feet, as it was the only tribute I could pay to the memory of this much persecuted yet saintly maiden of France. ji "Death Staying The Hand Of The " Sculptor" i's a work in bronze by Daniel C. French, an American sculptor, sculp-tor, born in 1850, and has been presented pre-sented to the Institute by the sculp-' tor. It occupies a large panel in the rotunda second floor, and represents the Angel of Death, holding a bunch of asphodels in one hand approaching approach-ing a sculptor .-ho is busily engaged with his chisei m carving hieroglyphics hierogly-phics on a wall. With the other hand she gently arrests his work and bids A him come. It is a beautiful concep- J! tion of death, relieving one of the darker thoughts that usually accompany accom-pany the silent messenger, as it plainly reveals that we only lay our work aside to rest awhile and that no one is exempt from following the inevitable visitor. "The Solitude Of Soul," "Knowledge and Wisdom" in Bronze" occupy one of the wings on the first floor. Under the latter was the following inscription. "There is in wisdom a spirit sub- liincly clear in utterance, loving what is good, pure, steadfast. "By knowledge shall the chambers be filled with precious and pleasant riches." Daniel French has donated another one of his mastcrpi ccs, "Truth and Romance." John Harvard, founder of Harvard College, is done in bronze by Daniel Chester, a French sculptor, and lent to the Institute by him. t A statue of Francois Marie Aronct de Vollairc after the original in marble mar-ble in the Comedic Francaisc, Paris, . ' is the work of Jean Antoine Hondon. 1 The Virgin of Grief (or of St. Cyr.) by Germain Pilon, a French sculp-' sculp-' turc, is after the original terra cotta $ formerly in the Saintc Chapclle, Par- is, now in the Lonvrc. ,u A bust of Moliere by Hondon, is iff another work of marrelous execution. i s The Memorial Statue on the sec- ond floor, after the original in bronze in Florence,, Italy, by Frank Duve-ncck, Duve-ncck, is vcr new to the art lovers who daily throng the classic halls I was accompanied on one of my visits vis-its by Sister Edmund , a Dominican nun, and wc both were reluctant to go home and leave so much beauty, wc had not the time to study.. The characters in Mythology, so beautifully beauti-fully carved into living sculpture held a fascination for me I cannot describe. des-cribe. In fancy I was back on the Olympian heights listening to the lyrical poetry surg by the bards of that age, enjoying all the sweet intoxication in-toxication of nectar and ambrosia in a feast with the gods and godesscs. In reality, I was reclining upon the arm of a nun, gowned in a becoming robe of a cream colored soft mater-' mater-' ial which clung gracefully to her form looking backward at the statup of Alma Mater in the central part of the rotunda on the first floor. I shall never forget the affection I felt for that piece of bronze, sitting with an open book on her lap and holding a sceptre in her right hand, while a bay or laurel wreath crowned her K brow. She seemed to say "Come to mc, all ye who thirst for knowledge and beauty and I will refresh you, ' and ye shall find rest unto your souls for here I preside." DELL DOLORES WATTS. |
